Virtual Reality and Social Phobia

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer simulated environment and could offer a powerful tool in the future treatment of phobias. An application of VR is Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) in which a phobia patient is exposed to a virtual environment containing the feared stimulus instead of being taken into a real environment or having to imagine the stimulus. This research aims to examine if the simulated social situation in the prototype virtual environment, especially developed for this purpose, is able to provoke the same behavioral response as the real life situation. If this is the case, it would be a step towards implementation of VRET in social phobia treatment. Two cases were examined in the prototype virtual environment to assess whether it was able to recreated social behavior of people. First, we examined if participant who enter a crowded room in the virtual environment prefer to take a seat in a chair that is close to them. Secondly, we investigated if participants in the virtual environment have the tendency to physically distance themselves from strangers when choosing a seat in a room full of strangers. We covered the prototype design of a social situation in a virtual world, the implementation of the prototype, the applied software and techniques and the results of a pilot experiment with the virtual world. We concluded, based on the two cases we examined during our experiments, that a social situation can be recreated in a virtual world.